AFT Disaster Relief - Please Don't Forget our Union Colleagues

"I told my daughter, 'Pack light—we’ll be back in three days.' Three weeks later, she couldn’t find her bedroom." That’s what Elsie Burkhalter told me. She’s a teacher from Slidell, Louisiana, who returned to find an oak tree in her kitchen. Joe DeRose is a teacher from New Orleans who lost his home and all his possessions. What he found when he returned was devastating. “I didn’t expect the street to look like this…I’ve never seen anything like this." Elsie and Joe are just two of the hundreds of thousands who had their homes destroyed and lives turned upside down by Katrina.

That was bad enough. Then they got the news that the Louisiana State Legislature voted to take over the public schools in New Orleans, and reopen them as charter schools. That put 4500 public school teachers and 3500 other school employees out of work and stripped them of their rights under the union contract. Eight thousand members of the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) have no paycheck, no benefits, no seniority, and no recall rights. "This is a sad day for the teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, and other employees of New Orleans Public Schools and for the city of New Orleans," said UTNO President Brenda Mitchell.

As of Jan. 31, all New Orleans Public Schools employees not working in the few schools that are open will be "terminated." That is why, now more than ever, we must send a message to our union colleagues in the Gulf Coast region that they have not been forgotten. Please contribute to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund, which is providing grants to AFT members who have suffered losses due to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

Lisa Keeling, an UTNO member and elementary school teacher for 21 years, said it best when she told state legislators: "We who live or work in New Orleans have already suffered one tragedy. Only you can prevent us from suffering another. Help me and my fellow teachers who want New Orleans schools to reopen so we can teach again."

To make your tax-deductible donation, go to http://www.aft.org/katrina

Photos of Bradley Elementary School, New Orleans, by Joe DeRose